Martin Wickham gives us his view on the JT saga – is it just a question of football politics?
Within an hour of a deeply satisfying 5-1 away win in the FA Cup against a team I refuse to mention by name, I was once again angry about the state of Chelsea and the way it is being run. It could only happen at this club in this season, but for various reasons, the seemingly imminent departure of John Terry represents a nadir. There can be no questioning whether Chelsea Football Club is in an absolute state at present, this news, if true, confirms it.
In a season where the whole team bar Lillian has under performed, JT hasn’t been immune from criticism. However any struggles he had pale in comparison to those of Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic and Branislav Ivanovic, to name but three. No knock on Brana (and he has steadily got better since his woeful first few games), but it is ludicrous to me that you can offer him a contract for a further season and not Terry. And the claim that it is down to the incoming manager A.N Other to decide who stays and who goes doesn’t hold water when Ivanovic signed his new deal two weeks ago. It would be naïve to assume that if the decision is being made to let him go, that it is a purely footballing one. If it were it would be slightly easier to accept, but the politics behind everything at Chelsea make it look like a choice taken at least one season too soon.
The general reaction to the news over the last 24 hours on social media has been one of anger, mixed with a bit of trepidation. That fans are concerned about the 
players left behind if Terry does depart is a result of the same muddled thinking, second guessing and indecisiveness from the Chelsea hierarchy that has backed the club into a corner regarding the managerial situation, and which I wrote about here. Put simply, the spine of the team that brought Chelsea its first flush of sustained success has not been adequately replaced. Both on and off the pitch the likes of Terry, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech and Didier Drogba (ably supported by Ashley Cole and Michaels Ballack and Essien) drove the club on, often in trying and uncertain circumstances as managers came and went. Casting an eye over the current squad you can’t find many battlers, though there are bottlers aplenty. Even if the allegations that certain players ‘chucked it in’ during Jose Mourinho’s last days are unfounded, that they were given credence at all is indicative of how many feel about them.
As well as on the pitch concerns, Terry’s departure would represent, without much exaggeration, the end of an era. The last player who truly gets it, who came through the youth system and has been a first team player since 1998, who wouldn’t need a satnav to drive to the old Harlington training ground, who looks almost as cut up when Chelsea lose a game as we the fans do, and who is responsible for some extraordinary acts of kindness and generosity that go unreported by the wider media. With him gone the only attachment many will have to the players is the shirt they happen to be wearing. In some ways it will feel healthier to just consider the players highly paid temps instead of deluding ourselves into believing they care the same way we do, but it won’t half suck the fun out of it. This season the matches already feel like a rude interruption to an afternoon down the pub with your mates!
Two weeks ago a 98th minute equaliser by JT scrambled a 3-3 draw at home against Everton. The ad board climbing celebration we all know about. When he got off the hoarding and started to walk back to the centre circle he stopped after about 5 paces, turned back to the Matthew Harding stand and gave it large once again. My thoughts after the game were about how worse off the club were going to be when he was gone, and how it was imperative that there was a succession plan in place for when he does depart. It now looks like the day I dreaded is coming, and in my view at least, prematurely. To compound this act of folly, the day of John Terry’s emotional farewell at Stamford Bridge is going to come around much quicker than the day any modicum of foresight, cohesive thinking and intelligent, logical planning is going to come from the Chelsea board.
The ramifications of this summer, and decisions made on the next manager and the players who stay, go and join are massive and will have an impact for years to come. If they get it wrong again we are looking at a return to the days of hoping for the top 4/6 and a decent cup run or two, because league glory will be off the table, let alone Champions League. If the decision has been made to allow JT to leave, it sadly doesn’t inspire any confidence that they will get it right.
John George Terry. It’s fair to say we will never see his like again. It was a privilege.
Indeed for Chelsea to let JT go is incomprehensible. But then again this is the same Chelsea that let Lampsrd and the Special One go! The glory days for Chelsea are over both in terms of the EPL and Champions League.